


Break

by GoringWriting



Category: Critical Role (Web Series)
Genre: Caleb Widogast Has Issues, Caleb Widogast Needs a Hug, Caleb Widogast's Backstory, Caleb Widogast-centric, Fire, Gen, Hurt Caleb Widogast, Mental Breakdown, Murder, POV Caleb Widogast, Self-Loathing Caleb Widogast, Spoilers, Trent Ikithon Being an Asshole, Trent Ikithon Dies, Warning: Trent Ikithon
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2021-03-08
Updated: 2021-03-08
Packaged: 2021-03-15 01:47:09
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 949
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/29926053
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/GoringWriting/pseuds/GoringWriting
Summary: A lot of things have been happening to Caleb very quickly...too quickly. And now Trent is right there.
Relationships: Luc Brenatto & Yeza Brenatto & Nott | Veth Brenatto & Caleb Widogast
Comments: 1
Kudos: 50





	Break

Caleb stares from the other side of the room as Trent moves closer and closer. He’s not in Yussa’s tower anymore. He’s back at the age of sixteen, watching his teacher slink towards him to punish him for a mistake in his casting. He’s back watching as crystals are forced into the skin of his arm, it burns worse than the fire when he first summons it and can’t control it. 

Caleb blinks, he’s not a child any longer. He is a man. He is in Yussa’s tower, Yussa’s home, facing Trent. Behind him are the people that are important to the people important to him. Luc is here, Yeza is here. Marion is there. They shouldn’t be. They shouldn’t be crying and screaming and terrified for their lives. 

Because of him. 

Luc shouldn’t have both his parents at risk right now. 

Luc who still has a book on transmutation. 

Luc who is interested in magic. 

Luc who is mere feet away from Trent. 

Caleb can’t deal with this. Every day, every hour it is something new!

His tower, invaded by a madman in the skin of a friend. A dragon! Eyes appearing on his skin. Eyes haunting his dreams. A magical city about to be fucked with! Essek and his fear for his life. Astrid and where her heart lies and where his lies. 

Their belongings being stolen. His near death in the snow. Halas.

The wizard didn’t succeed in taking control of his mind, but he could feel it. Could feel fingers like ice in his head. Prying at his mind. 

No one is willing to help them. They know how dangerous this is! And yet they are afraid and leave it to them to fix! They give them a few trinkets and some words and expect them to do the impossible alone. But they cannot. 

Then...The Sanitorium, eleven years of his life here. He can’t remember his time here. But he can feel it in his heart, this is not a good place. This is a bad place. Full of pain. 

Then Trent, trapping them in the basement. Smirking down at him. Right there. Opening his mouth to talk. 

Caleb won’t let him. 

More fire. More and more fire. Flung at the man who lay at the center of the web of horrors that has become Caleb’s life. The man that haunts his nightmares. Whose voice still makes his heart pick up like it would like nothing more than rip from his chest and run away. The man who is everything evil in the world. 

Counterspelling Trent’s counterspell is an exhilaration Caleb never expected. He’s shown that he is stronger, finally.

But then he’s in his head and they are on a mad dash to collect everyone they care about to keep them safe from the horror Caleb unleashed. From the horror they are dealing with, because of him. He’s in Yussa’s tower, they have nowhere to go. He’s nearly out of spells and Trent is lurking around. 

And Caleb?

He is so tired of running. When he tosses the idea of him turning himself in to Trent he’s terrified he doesn’t want to do it, he just wants to keep the people he cares about the people those people care about safe. But he would also be able to stop running. He wouldn’t have to look over his shoulder everytime he turns around, expecting Trent to be there waiting to grab him. He would know what the man wanted with him. 

He could stop running. 

But he knows himself...or he knows who he used to be and if Bren ever comes back no one, not even his friends would be safe. Trent would take Bren and twist him back into a pretzel and toss him back out. An obedient child again. 

That can't happen. He can’t. Trent will do all those things to him again.

He watches his friends as they get through the plane shift and then glances at Trent. Trent who made him this way. Who has been hunting them for such a long time. Whose very name feels like a toxin in his blood. 

Caleb can’t keep running, but he isn’t strong enough to kill him. 

There’s nothing he can do. Trent will win and Caleb will watch as those he loves die. Because of him. And will have been all his fault. 

Caleb feels tears burning his eyes and his hands are clenching. 

Astrid and Wulf are looking at him with a look of worry as they edge towards the door. Like they know something bad is going to happen. 

Like it’s happened before. 

Caleb stares at Trent and thinks about everything. Molly, Lucien, his time at the academy, the asylum, his parents, the fire, Essek, the threats, Marion, Luc, Yeza, The Nein, the city, Halas in his head, picking and pulling, his feelings for the people he once loved, the students Trent has had since, Kima, Allura, Derogna, the eyes, the dreams, the fear, the pain, the terror, the people he loves. 

The spell ends as soon as the last person goes through. Leaving Caleb alone with Trent now. Astrid and Wulf are gone. Abandoned Trent like they abandoned him in that asylum. 

Trent smiles at him. 

That’s what does it. 

Caleb breaks. 

Fire swirls around him. The same fire that burned Astrid and Wulf when Bren broke. The fire that left scars deep enough to still mark their souls with what they have done. 

Caleb breaks. 

He screams as the fire shoots up into the air. Catching books and furniture ablaze. 

Caleb breaks. 

And the Tower burns. 

Caleb breaks. 

And Trent burns. 

Caleb breaks…

...no, Caleb burns.

**Author's Note:**

> Caleb didn't die in case it's not clear.


End file.
